The MAAA squad of athletes for this weekend’s European Team Championships (Third League) will be looking to improve on the country’s best showing of ninth place, obtained twice in 2010 and 2011.
Last year, in Slovakia, the MAAA team had to settle for an 11th position overall but this time around expectations are high that they will make the top 10 in the championships which will be contested by 14 other teams.
Malta will be competing against athletes from Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Cyprus, Macedonia, Israel, Georgia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Mol-dova, Montenegro, and the Athletic Association of Small States of Europe.
“We will compete with a bigger squad consisting of 17 male and 13 female athletes and will also be seeking to field athletes in every event,” Edwin Attard, the MAAA president, said.
“We shall participate in events such as pole vault, high jump and hurdles where, to date, the MAAA has always found it hard to field athletes.”
Among the top contenders in the team will be Kevin Moore, fresh from his national record of 21.04 seconds in the 200m in Geneva. Rebecca Camilleri will also challenge for the honours in long jump having established a new record earlier this month.
2015 objectives
Attard also expressed the belief that the European Team Championships will be a stepping stone towards strengthening the Maltese athletics squad for other important international competitions in the near future.
“We are already focusing on next year’s GSSE and the European Team Championships which next year will be part of the inaugural European Games,” Attard said.
“For this reason, the MAAA has set up a Technical Committee consisting of a combination of specialised coaches which report on the progress of leading national athletes.”
Meanwhile, this week the MAAA team had a meeting with Parliamentary Secretary for Sport Chris Agius who showed his appreciation for the efforts made by the athletes in their training.
He also wished them success in this week’s important international competition in Georgia.